1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a damping assembly, and more particularly to a damping assembly for a construction such that the construction is protected from damage resulting from earthquake.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One of the conventional damping assembly is shown in FIG. 6, which includes a bottom disk (80), a top disk (81), a lead core (82) centrally installed between the bottom disk (80) and the top disk (81), a rubber layer (84) mounted around the lead core (82) and defining therein multiple receiving spaces and multiple stainless steel plates (83) each received in a corresponding one of the receiving spaces of the rubber layer (84). Normally, the bottom disk (80) is firmly mounted on a foundation of a construction and the top disk (81) is firmly attached to a bottom face of the construction.
When there is an earthquake, the stainless steel plates (83) provides the rigidity and the rubber layer (84) provides the resilience to the construction. As a result, the construction may be exempted from damage of the earthquake. However, this type of damping assembly is bulky and expensive. The mounting procedure is complex and troublesome.
A different damping assembly is shown in FIG. 7. This type of damping assembly includes a base (90) having a concavity defined therein, a rubber (91) received inside the concavity of the base (90), a supporting layer mounted on top of the rubber layer (91) and having a skirt extending outward from a top face of the supporting layer, a Teflon® layer (93) mounted on top of the supporting layer (92), a stainless steel layer (94) placed on top of the Teflon® layer (93) and a top pad (95) on top of the stainless steel layer (94). A cushion pad (96) is provided between a top face of the base (90) and the bottom face of the skirt of the supporting layer (92). Normally, the base (90) is mounted on the foundation of the construction and the top pad (95) is firmly attached to the construction. When earthquake occurs, the stainless steel layer (94) provides the rigidity and the rubber layer (91) provides the resilience to the construction. As a result, the construction may be exempted from damage of the earthquake.
Though economic, due to the overall thickness of this type of damping assembly being thin, when the construction or the foundation is tilted as a result of the earthquake, the top pad (95) is easily moved and tilted, which damages the construction.
Still another conventional damping assembly in the art is shown in FIG. 8 and has a bottom support (97) with an arcuate top face, a top support (98) on top of the bottom support (97) and having an arcuate bottom face and a sliding block (99) sandwiched between the bottom support (97) and the top support (98). The sliding block (99) is able to move between the arcuate top face and the arcuate bottom face. In practice, the bottom support (97) is securely attached to a top face of a construction or a foundation of a construction and the top support (98) is firmly attached to a bottom face of a main construction such that when an earthquake occurs, the relative movement of the top support (98) and the bottom support (97) offsets the damping from the earthquake and the construction is protected.
However, this type of damping assembly has high cost and not reliable in relation to the sliding block (99). It is because after the sliding block (99) has been used for a period of time, the friction coefficient between the top face and the bottom face of the sliding block (99) remains the same, but due to different wear degrees to the top face and the bottom face, the viscosity of the sliding block (99) to the arcuate top face and the arcuate bottom face of the sliding block (99) varies from each other.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an improved damping assembly to mitigate the aforementioned problems.